Friday, March 11, 2016

Gameday Preview: Texas Stars at Stockton Heat

Texas Stars
34-20-5-3, 76 pts, 0.613
#2 Pacific Division

at

Stockton Heat
24-24-1-2, 51 pts, 0.500
#6 Pacific Division

March 11th at 9:30 PM

Stockton Arena, Stockton, CA

Another season series is coming to an end this weekend with the final two games of the year against the Stockton Heat. They are looking to get above .500 for just the third time all season. The only other two instances were in the first weeks of the season.

(Credit: Christina Shapiro/Texas Stars)

Really, the season turned downhill for the club when Jon Gillies went down with a season-ending hip injury after just seven games. Now Kevin Poulin and Kent Simpson man the net for Stockton with middling success. In all, the Heat have used six goalies on the season.

Stockton got something at the trade deadline though as Hunter Shinkaruk (21-18=39 with Utica) joined up. He has three points in six games with Stockton so far.

Overall the scouting report on Stockton is that everything is average to below average. Scoring is 11th in the league but goals against is 27th. The power play is 16th; the PK is 23rd. It's a long way of saying: this is a weekend Texas should finish with four more points. That is confused by the fact that Texas is 1-2-0-1 against the Heat so far this season. Good time to get over that hump.

The Stars are without Stephen Johns but expect Julius Honka and Jesse Blacker to be available this weekend. There is no expectation for Greg Rallo or Travis Morin to return.

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